Only Fools Fall
by sp0by
Summary: Maya never meant to start having a fling with her best friend's boyfriend— it just... happened. [College AU]
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

"I don't understand _why_ he would break up with me!" Riley cried out in frustration, putting both hands on her face. She looked over at the blonde sitting on her dorm room bed. "Why, Maya? Why would he do this?"

The blonde bit her lip and scratched her head. She could think of a few reasons that Riley would not appreciate, but she figured it wasn't a good time to break the brunette's heart anymore. She was already devastated over her recent break up.

"Well, what did he say when he broke up with you?" Maya asked, raising her eyebrows.

"The vaguest thing a stupid boy says when he breaks up with you: it's not working out between us," Riley explained. "And when I asked him why he thinks it isn't working out between us, all he said is that he just 'isn't feeling it' anymore. Ugh!" She groaned and buried her head in her pillow.

Maya really, really wanted to help her best friend deal with the situation, it was just that she felt any advice that she gave would be biased. Why? Oh, just because _she_ happened to be the reason they broke up— well, she was pretty sure she was the reason. It didn't make sense any other way. And she felt horrible about what she did, but she couldn't stop herself. The one thing she never wanted to in her life was hurt Riley Matthews, but that was exactly what she ended up doing. She feared how devastated Riley would be if she found out the truth about her break up.

" _Maya_ ," the brunette whined, "you usually help me with these situations, but I'm feeling oddly lonely even though you're here."

She swallowed hard. There was a burning pain inside of her when she looked over at Riley. Damn it, she looked so upset while laying there on the bed. A knot grew in her stomach knowing that she was probably the reason that her best friend was in all this pain.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I just, I don't know."

"But you always know what to say," Riley said sadly.

"Well, this time, I don't know anything," Maya told her. "I think I should go. I have a paper to write, and it's due in like, a week."

Riley's mouth opened to speak, but she couldn't think of anything to say. She was shocked that Maya wasn't willing to help her with her problem this time. She had helped her through countless problems, including all of her relationship issues! But Maya felt too guilty to help her with this one. The blonde left the dorm room, closing the door on her way out. She took a deep breath when she was out, and leaned against the door. Running a hand through her hair, she finally gained the courage to keep walking. There was something she needed to do.

" _Huckleberry_!" she yelled, knocking on his dorm room door furiously. "Huckleberry, you better open up!"

"Alright, alright!" she heard a muffled call coming from inside the room. A groggy-looking Lucas Friar opened the door up and raised his eyebrows. "What do you need, Maya? I was up _really_ late last night working on one of my papers, and I needed the extra nap. Thanks for disrupting it."

When she looked at him, the knot only grew bigger. God damn, she caused this whole mess of a situation. Also, she realized that this was the first time she was talking to Lucas since _it-that-shall-not-be-named_ happened.

"You broke up with Riley," she stated.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, I did," he confirmed, swallowing hard.

"I wasn't asking you, dummy," she rolled her eyes. "I was trying to tell you what an idiot you are!"

He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Can't you see that Riley loves you so much?" she asked, trying to stop herself from crying. She couldn't cry— not in front of _Huckleberry_. "Damn it, Lucas... why would you break up with her?"

"I know she loves me, okay?" he sighed again. "And I love her, too, of course, but it's just... not in the way she wants me to love her. I can't see her romantically anymore, even if I want to. She's always been like a sister to me. I love her as my friend— best friend. But it's not right for her to be my girlfriend."

"Oh, really?" she raised her eyebrows. "That's bullshit and you know it. This is about what happened. I told you not to break up with her, and you did it anyways."

"What happened factored into me realizing that I don't see her as a girlfriend anymore!" Lucas argued. "Don't be so conceited, Maya. This isn't all about you." He folded his arms. "It's my decision if I want to end the relationship I'm in. It shouldn't concern you. I don't have to not break up with her just because _you_ told me not to."

Maya pressed her lips together for a moment, analyzing the boy that was much taller than her. His nostrils were flaring, so she knew she had already gotten under his skin. And God damn, it boiled her blood in the best way. She loved knowing that she pissed him off. It gave her this thrill, and she wanted to just.. _ugh_.

"But it _does_ concern me. She's my best friend, and I don't want to see her hurting. Whether or not what happened is the main reason you broke up with her, it still is a part of the reason, so don't deny it. Don't you dare deny it," she warned, shaking her head. "It was a mistake, and I wish it didn't happen. God, everything would me so much less complicated if it didn't happen."

"Maybe you regret the consequences of what happened. You're sad about seeing Riley sad, and I get that. I didn't want to upset her, either, but that doesn't change the way I feel," he said, a hint of anger lingering in his voice. "So, don't _you_ dare deny that you don't regret it. You don't regret what happened." He reached out and let his hand stroke her arm, sending chills down her spine. She wanted to push him back off and pull him closer all at the same time. "Maya," he whispered her name into her ear.

"Stop it," she said, shaking her head. "You're such an idiot. Stop it."

He laughed bitterly.

"Why don't you stop trying to pretend like you regret it, then?" he asked, continuing to stroke her arms. "I know you're thinking about it right now: the way I felt, the way I kissed you, the way you screamed my name—"

" _Shut up_ ," she snarled, finally pushing him off.

He laughed again, this time more lightheartedly.

"God, Maya," he breathed. "I can't freakin' get you out of my head."

"Well, isn't that too bad?" she smirked. "Because I can."

"Yeah, right," he rolled his eyes. "You're hilarious, you know that?"

He saw right through her, and she hated that. She thought she could pull off the 'I'm-better-than-you' front where it seemed like she didn't give a crap about what happened. She wanted to make him feel like it was one-sided. She wanted him to feel rejected. But all at the same time, she wanted him to do everything all over again.

"I'm leaving," she told him, shaking her head.

He walked up behind her. She stopped trying to walk away, and just stood there in place. His hands crawled up her backside, reaching her shoulders. He stood tall behind her, and she felt it so well, even though she couldn't see him. He leaned down, placing rough kisses on her neck, and she was deciding whether she should elbow him in the groin, or turn around and make another huge mistake. Stupidly falling for it again, she turned around in a mere second, put her hand on the back of his neck, and yanked him in. Their lips connected so gently, but that was the gentlest it was going to get. She kicked the door shut with her leg. After that, she shoved him onto his bed, jumping on top of him. He was laying flat on the bed, and she sat up, her bottom hovering over his crotch.

She took a small moment to push a strand of her blonde hair behind her ears, and bit her lip during the process as well. Then, she leaned down and re-connected their lips. She couldn't believe she was making the same mistake yet again.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm going to keep this T because none of the scenes are going to be explicit. Also, I know it's quite unrealistic for the group to all be in college together, but for the sake of the story, oh well! lmao. Hope you guys like it. I'll update whenever I can, but I do have dead week and finals coming up, so I might be a little stacked up for the next 2 weeks. But then I've got winter break!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Lmao. Despite saying that I probably wouldn't update for a while since finals and dead week, here I am! But, next week is going to be hectic for me, so I'm _expecting_ not to have any time to update. Who knows, though? Even though I should be studying this weekend and next week, I'll probably end up getting too lazy to study and end up writing more of the fic. Anyways, I've bored you enough with my school issues.. here's the next chapter. Hope you guys like it!**

CHAPTER 2

Lucas yawned and stretched his arms out as his eyes began to open. His eyes opened to the sight of a little blonde grabbing her bag from the side table and creaking the door open just a bit. His eyes shot completely open, and he raised his eyebrows.

"Maya?" he questioned.

"God damn..." she muttered under her breath, and turned around. "Yes, Lucas, it's me. What? Were you expecting it to be a _different_ girl leaving your dorm room?"

"No, obviously not," he rolled his eyes. "I didn't mean to ask who was leaving.. I just meant, why are you leaving?"

"Because I can't stay, duh," she said like it was obvious. He furrowed his eyebrows, so she decided to clarify, "How do you expect me to stay? This isn't some sleepover. What's done is done, and it was obviously a mistake, so I have to go. Besides, Farkle could come at any moment. And I _cannot_ let anybody know about this."

He almost forgot how ashamed she was of being caught with him. He wasn't exactly sure if it was because she was afraid what Riley and others would think about her hooking up with best friend's now ex-boyfriend, both before and after they broke up, or if she was just ashamed because he was Lucas Friar and she wouldn't want to be caught dead hooking up with _Lucas Friar_.

"You said the other time was a mistake, too, but you came back," he reminded.

"I tend to make the same mistakes over again," she shrugged. "But, that's it, I swear. Two times is too many to make the same mistake. If you're thinking this is ever going to happen again, well, you're wrong, because it's not. This is over."

"Oh, really?" he smirked. "I don't believe that."

"What? You think I'm going to come back for 'more'?" she scoffed.

"Actually, that's exactly what I think you're going to do," he said, flashing her a proud smile that made her blood boil again. He sat up in the bed and focused on her. Her lips were pressed together in frustration. This stupid cowboy was able to get under her skin so much, yet she was barely ever able to get under his skin. It took a lot of effort for her to accomplish what he could do with just a few words. "Honestly, I think you like this. You pretend like you're some noble friend that would never hurt Riley, but you keep on hurting her. More and more. You wanna know why?" His proud smirk grew wider. "Because _you_ are into me," he finished.

Her mouth went wide, showing him how ridiculous the thought was. _No_. She did not have feelings for Lucas Friar. Not only was he the ex-boyfriend of her best friend, but he was also _Lucas_! Maybe she enjoyed his company for this one hook-up: it was good, she had to at least admit that, but it didn't mean much to her. It was to have some fun. There was no way she was into him. He was out of his mind.

"Okay, buddy, you keep dreaming," she rolled her eyes. "If you want to think I have feelings for you, then go for it. But we both know that's not the case here. We work well together physically, but there's not a chance in hell that I want anything romantic with you."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright, Maya," he said calmly. _Too_ calmly. Maya felt the irritation grow inside of her again. God damn, this boy...

"'Alright, Maya'?" she mocked.

"You should go," he told her. "Wouldn't want Farkle to see us or anything."

She felt like going back there and teaching him a lesson, but decided to keep herself cool. She took a deep breath, calming herself down, and continued to walk out his door. She really was hoping that nobody witnessed her leaving Lucas's room all disheveled. Luckily, Riley was probably not going to leave her room for a while because of the break up, but unluckily, Maya would have to deal with the aftermath of the break up. Riley was already annoyed that she didn't give her any advice the first time.

Maya went back to the room, where Riley was laying on her bed, sobbing. The poor girl had tears stained in her pink, fluffy pillow-case. Maya's heart continued to break as she watched her best friend fall apart because of the stupid thing she did... and literally just did again. God, she hated realizing what a bad friend she really was. A good friend would never sleep with their best friend's ex, and certainly wouldn't try to hide it like this if they did.

"Where have you been?" Riley demanded, sitting up in the bed.

Her eyes were puffy and red from crying. Maya tiled her head, observing her tear-stained cheeks. The brunette looked so miserable. Maya went over to Riley's bed and sat down, pulling her in for a hug.

"I'm sorry, Riles," she sighed. "So, so sorry. Sorry about your break up, and so sorry about not helping you through it. I needed a break.. I went for a walk. A long walk." She stroked Riley's soft brown hair, kissing the top of her best friend's head. "I should have been there for you all along," she continued. "And if it's any consolation, I'm going to just be there for you now."

"Make me forget," Riley pleaded. "I don't want to think about him anymore. How am I going to hang out with him and be his friend after what happened between us? We always promised that we would never let a break up affect our friendship, but that was when I was stupid and thought we would never even get to the point where we'd break up—"

"Hey, calm down," Maya coaxed. "I know that Lucas is always going to want to be friends with you—"

"No, please don't say his name. Can we just.. can we not talk about him?" Riley asked, sighing. "Can we do something that'll distract me from this?"

Maya raised her eyebrows. She didn't know what there was to do to make her forget, but she would do _anything_ Riley asked. Anything, honestly.

"Whatever you want, I'll do," she said.

"Good. Let's go to Hunter Stephen's party," Riley said.

"Riles..." Maya muttered. Maybe that was the one thing she'd rather not do right now. Go to a party? She didn't think that was exactly the best method for coping with a break up, but it really seemed like that was what Riley wanted to do to get over him. "Are you sure a party is what's going to help you? You know how it is.. Hunter's parties can be intense."

"Intense is what I need. Crazy, actually!" Riley exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "If I'm there having a good time, meeting good people that want to be in my life, I'll feel normal again. I won't feel like I need him so much."

"Guys can be super sleazy there. The guys there are willing to hurt you more than Lucas did," Maya told her. "Honestly, he's a good guy. A really good guy. And I know he didn't want to hurt you when he made the stupid mistake of breaking up with you—"

"Are you _defending_ him, Maya?" Riley's eyes went wide. "I know he's not as horrible as many of the guys, but I don't want to hear this right now. I want to hate him. Obviously, I still love him. But I don't want to love him. I want to hate him, and I want to not need him in my life."

The blonde sighed and nodded her head.

"Okay, okay. We can go to Hunter's party," Maya gave in. "But, you're not going to do anything stupid with any guys. Are we clear?"

"Yes, _Mom_ ," Riley teased as she got out of bed.

* * *

" _Riley Matthews and Maya Hart_? Damn! I didn't think you two would show up, but I'm glad you did."

"It's nice to see you, too, Hunter," Maya greeted, rolling her eyes.

"Don't be such a downer. I'm psyched you both came, especially since I heard about what happened between you and Friar, Matthews," Hunter said, nodding his head understandingly. "I love the guy, but dude's an idiot for breakin' up with a perfect girl like you, Matthews."

Riley looked up at him longingly. Hunter Stephen was taking an interest in her? She wouldn't exactly mind going for him, especially since she didn't want to be thinking about Lucas right now. Not to mention, Hunter was an attractive guy.

"Cool it, buddy. She's not interested in you," Maya warned.

"I wasn't making a move on her, but I would if _she_ wants me to," Hunter laughed. "You don't have to speak for her, Hart. I think she can do it herself."

"I shouldn't do anything..." Riley muttered, shaking her head.

"Alright, if you wanna be boring, then leave me hanging. I'm open if you change your mind," Hunter winked. "Peace out, pretty girls. I better go fire up the beer pong games. Plus, my man Justin's gonna be bringing the bong."

Maya felt a rush of uncomfortableness pass through her at the sound of the drugs, the guys, and the drinking. This wasn't what she wanted to spend her weekend doing, and this certainly wasn't what she thought was right for Riley to get over her break up. Sleazy guys were going to be going after Riley now that she was available again (not that they really would have backed off if she was in a relationship, anyway). Hunter was probably one of the lesser of the sleazy guys, so she wasn't too worried about him. He was just playful with girls sometimes, but he would never do anything nonconsensual.

The blonde looked over to her right to find a place for them to sit down and relax, but instead found herself a Lucas Friar walking through the doors of the frat house. Dressed in a red and black flannel shirt and dark blue jeans that fit him just perfectly, he walked inside the party, aided by nobody but himself. He nodded at a few people here and there as he walked in. A knot grew in Maya's stomach when he came in. Crap, Riley was going to break down if she saw him. She _knew_ this was a terrible idea to come to this party!

"Maya, what's wrong?" Riley asked.

"Nothing," Maya quickly responded.

Riley tilted her head and gave her a look of disbelief.

"Fine. I can't lie to you right now.. Lucas is here," Maya confessed.

Riley's eyes went wide.

"I'm so stupid!" Riley cried. "How did I not think he would come to his own friend's party? I'm stupid!"

"I totally forgot about the possibility of him coming, too, so don't blame yourself," Maya told her, putting a hand on her shoulder soothingly. "It's okay, Riles. We can leave if you want to. Go somewhere else. Watch a movie, eat food—"

"And let him win?" Riley raised her eyebrows. "No way!"

"Riles..." Maya muttered. "Please don't tell me you have some type of idea.."

"But I do. He's going to feel jealous," Riley proudly said, rubbing her hands together. "If he sees me with another guy, he's going to get jealous. He'll feel stupid about breaking up with me. That's what all guys do. They want you when they can't have you."

"And what's the endgame here?" Maya asked. "If he does get jealous, what's the endgame, Riley? You're going to take him back?"

"No, I'm just going to make him feel bad. He made me feel bad," Riley explained, but Maya wasn't really feeling her logic.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea," Maya sighed.

"I think it is. Besides, Hunter already made it seem like he wants to do something," Riley said.

"Oh, come on!" Maya cried, sighing. "Please don't go do something you'll regret later with _Hunter_."

"Don't be silly, Maya. I'm not going to do anything bad with him. Just.. dance with him, maybe? I won't go far, I promise," Riley said, and she was off running to Hunter before Maya could object anymore than she already had.

The blonde looked over at Lucas. She tried to look away, but his gaze met hers, and they ended up looking at each other for far too long. He put his hands in the pockets of his jeans, and began approaching her. She stared at the floor, trying to make it seem as if she wasn't paying attention, but he knew she was.

"Hi," he greeted.

"Oh God, Lucas.. what are you doing here?" Maya asked, sighing.

"It's my friend's party. I thought I was allowed to come," he responded, furrowing his eyebrows. "I don't understand why there has to be a problem with us all hanging out at the party. We used to all be good friends, and we'd hang out together like it was nothing. Why is the group suddenly divided? You two didn't even inform Farkle or me that you'd be coming to the party."

"This is a different situation!" Maya argued. "Riley can't hang out with you right now. She's still hurting."

"And you?" Lucas asked, raising his eyebrows. "Why can't you?"

"Because I'm her friend, and I'm going to support her," Maya responded.

He tilted his head in disbelief at her, the same way Riley did before.

"Stop looking at me like that!" Maya demanded. "Leave me alone, Friar!"

"Not until you admit you're into me," Lucas laughed. "God, Maya, it's so obvious. Would you just quit the act that you're too good to like me? It's clear as day. I'm surprised Riley hasn't noticed."

"Maybe Riley hasn't noticed it because it isn't true," Maya rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you're a little conceited to think that. I've done stuff with a lot of guys, Lucas. What makes you think you're special?"

Lucas swallowed hard. She'd slept with other guys before? He should have known. She didn't even seem inexperienced.

"You and other guys..?" Lucas began to ask.

She rolled her eyes.

"What? You thought that was my first time?" she laughed, rolling her eyes.

He flared his nostrils.

"Whatever, Maya. Do whatever you want, since you're apparently not into me," he said, shaking his head as he walked off.

She rolled her eyes again and walked over to pour herself a red cup of beer. She wasn't planning on drinking tonight, but that conversation with Lucas was giving her a headache. She sipped her cup and went to sit on the couch, surrounded by two sleazy guys that were undressing her with their eyes. She felt uncomfortable, but she stayed in that position. She knew Lucas was watching her, and that _he_ felt more uncomfortable about those guys sitting next to her than she did.

"You're hot," one of the drunk guys whispered into her ears.

"Uhh, thanks," she rolled her eyes, sipping her beer again.

"What's your name?" he asked, creeping his hand on her leg. It continued creeping up her thigh, although she swatted it away several times.

"Never going to happen, buddy," she scoffed.

The guy apparently didn't get the memo that she in no way wanted anything to do with him, because he kept on letting his hand massage around her thigh. After a point, she just let him do whatever he wanted. She knew it was killing Lucas. Although he was pretending to have great conversations with his friends, she caught his eyes glancing back at her every few seconds to see what the guy was doing.

Luckily for him, Farkle ended up attending the party. He noticed the creep, and pushed him off, squeezing between them.

"Why are you letting that disgusting guy touch you?" Farkle asked, raising his eyebrows. "I thought you of all people would have told him off by now, and punched him in the jaw if he kept going."

"I don't really give a crap what happens tonight," Maya shrugged.

"Maya," he said sternly. "You can't let some sleaze bag be all over you."

"What does it matter?" Maya said bitterly, rolling her eyes. "Everything is stupid, and so is everyone."

Farkle pressed his lips together.

"Nobody cares that Riley is practically throwing herself at Hunter?" Maya raised her eyebrows.

"I saw that.. but I think she wants to. I have every intention of stopping it if he gets too hands. But it seems like Riley's the handsy one right now, so I think it's good.. for now," Farkle said. He looked over at Maya. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just.." she sighed. "I don't know. Everything, maybe?"

She looked over at Farkle, and then looked back over at Lucas. He was watching them so intensely, and he didn't even care how obvious it was that he was looking now. Knowing that he was watching, she had a point to prove: she wasn't into him.

To prove that, she leaned right in and pressed her lips against Farkle's. He didn't deny the kiss at all, since he had practically been in love with her and Riley since forever (although he claimed his love for them was now in a friendly way). She cupped both of his cheeks as she deepened it, and she could only imagine how pissed Lucas was. And he was. He was squeezing his red cup like no tomorrow. _Farkle Minkus_? Maya was kissing Farkle?

He didn't even feel the slightest bit of anger that Riley was practically grinding against Hunter. Instead, he was so focused on the fact that Maya was all over Farkle. The two of them were making out! Was she trying to do this to piss him off? Because it was working. He dropped his cup in the trash and left the room. As soon as he was gone, Maya pulled back from Farkle. His jaw dropped immediately after she pulled back, trying to analyze and figure out how and why that just happened.

"Maya..." he mumbled, tugging on the strings of his sweatshirt.

"Don't sweat it," she shrugged it off.

"But you just—" Farkle began.

"I know what I did," she said, rolling her eyes. "I figured that after all these years of dedicatedly loving me, you deserve something in return. Don't think too much about it. It's probably never happening again."

He batted his eyes, a grin emerging on his face.

"That's more than enough for a lifetime!" Farkle exclaimed. "Although, the 'probably' _does_ hint that it could happen again in the future."

She laughed, shaking her head. What she loved about Farkle was that he made everything easier, even in times with complete drama like this. He was a committed friend, and she adored that about him. She did feel pretty bad about kissing him. He hadn't done anything to deserve being led on, but he was Farkle— he wasn't going to be serious about it.

She glanced her head back over to check on Riley. The brunette was still getting pretty into her dance with Hunter.

"Alright, I think it's time to stop _that_ ," Maya said, sighing.

She got up from the couch. Riley was rapidly motioning for her to come over there. After Maya continuously shook her head and gestured for _her_ to do the walking, Riley gave in and excused herself from Hunter's presence temporarily. She excitedly clapped her hands together when she came to Maya.

"What are you so perky about? Grinding with the extremely desperate Hunter Stephen? What an accomplishment..." Maya bitterly said.

" _Please_ , like I actually care about what happened with Hunter," Riley laughed. "How could you not see it? Lucas! He left. I was watching him periodically, and he looked so mad. He stormed out of the room. Didn't you see?"

Maya swallowed hard. Oh crap, she thought that Lucas was angry about her dancing with Hunter?

"Are you sure he even saw you?" Maya asked.

" _Yes_ , he looked right at me!" Riley responded happily.

"Maybe you should go talk to him," she suggested.

"Without finishing what you started with Hunter?" Farkle asked, raising his eyebrows as he also stood up from the couch. "Looks like he's pretty determined to finish what you started," he said, pointing over at Hunter, who was winking at her from the corner of the room. "Oh God, Riley... what have you done?"

Riley scoffed.

"He's literally harmless, Farkle," Riley shook her head.

Farkle pressed his lips together.

"I haven't had the chance to ask you, but how are you?" Farkle asked. "You know, since Lucas..."

"Bad," she responded honestly, staring at the floor. "But I'm getting better."

"And _crazier_ ," Maya commented. "You need to stop trying to make him jealous, Riles! It's not healthy if you want to forget about him, but you're hung up on him enough to try and flirt with other guys to make him mad."

She sighed.

"Okay, fine. I'll go shut it down with Hunter. No more of this game," Riley agreed.

" _Thank you_ ," Maya said with relief in her voice.


	3. Chapter 3

**Finals week is over for me! I survived! Now, I can get back to writing, and I have a winter break filled with nothing but time.. although, some of my evil teachers decided it would be great to give me homework over break, even though we just took finals... oh well. And thank you guys for all the sweet and positive reviews, I love reading them :) To the person that asked: the title _is_ from the lyrics of the Troye Sivan song (I was literally obsessed with that song when I started writing this). Alright, no more. I hope you guys like this chapter as well.**

CHAPTER 3

"Ugh," Maya groaned, running a hand through her long blonde hair. "I should _not_ have taken an evening class. It's like, I come back from taking a ton of morning and afternoon classes, and then I have to go right back to school when I'm all comfortable again."

Riley tilted her head to the side, putting her magazine down.

"You could ditch and stay here instead," Riley grinned devilishly, pressing her hands together.

Maya raised her eyebrows.

"Somebody's been trying to be a bad girl lately, huh?" she teased, although she wasn't exactly joking. Riley was never the one to encourage her to ditch her classes, or even _talk_ about ditching, unless there was an absolute emergency. And not to mention, but her not-Rileyish-at-all dancing at the party was even worse. Maya could tell that she felt completely different now that she and Lucas were broken up.

"Well, what can I say? I don't have my stupid 'moral compass' keeping me as what I was before," Riley shrugged. "And, is being different than what I was so bad? I mean, it was getting pretty annoying to be that girl who never does anything stupid. Well, I do a lot of stupid things.. but bad things."

There it was. Riley thought she could be different since she wasn't with Lucas anymore. And to make it even worse, Maya was still guarding the most devastating secret she'd ever kept from Riley in her life: that she'd slept with her ex-boyfriend... _twice_. And once while they were still together!

"Riles, he wasn't the reason you're a good person. You know that. You're an amazing person all on your own. Sure, he kept you on track sometimes, but that doesn't mean you're an entirely different person without him. You're still the Riley Matthews I love," the blonde comforted, sitting down beside her best friend on the bed. She squeezed Riley's arm.

"I just can't believe we're over, you know?" Riley sighed. "I loved him a lot.. and I still do. I just, I don't know what went wrong with us, and I hate not having that closure. You know?"

"My life has never had a lot of closure. You get used to it," Maya laughed bitterly. "I went years without understanding why my father left me. I blamed myself every day for him leaving. It took time, but you know he came back to give me the closure. It's not surprising that Lucas doesn't want to talk about what went wrong right now. Maybe it's too soon for him. But you're going to understand it eventually, no matter how long it may take."

Riley stared at the floor. God, she couldn't stop thinking about everything she had with Lucas. She was so stupidly and crazily in love with him. They were supposed to be the Cory and Topanga. Everyone was supposed to believe they were destined to end up together. And she was pretty sure that her dad didn't randomly break up with her mom because he 'wasn't feeling it' anymore. There was nothing about that kind of a break-up that screamed _true love_.

"I better get to class," Maya said, rubbing Riley's shoulders sweetly. "Don't beat yourself up too much, kid. Okay?"

"Okay," Riley nodded her head, and watched Maya leave the dorm room.

Once Maya was gone, she picked her magazine up and began reading it again. After a little while, there was another knock on the door. She sighed, getting up off her bed and going to the door to open it. She faked a small smile when she saw Hunter standing in the doorway.

"Oh.. _Hunter_ ," she bit her lip. "Hi! What are you doing.. at my dorm?"

He smiled at her, but it was a smile she couldn't really understand too well. She wasn't sure if it meant that he was happy to see her and be in her company, or if it meant that he wanted to do some not-so-appropriate things to her at this very moment...

"Hey, Riley," he smiled, leaning against the doorframe. He folded his arms.

"Hunter," she repeated, raising her eyebrows. Her fake smile faded. Now she was just annoyed. "I asked you what you were doing here."

"I wanted to see you," he smiled wider. "You know, after everything that happened between us at my party." He straightened his posture, and stood facing her instead. "I waited a few days before I came to see you. I thought you needed some time to process everything."

"We danced together, that's all," Riley bit her lip.

That was sort of a lie. Yes, technically, they didn't go any further than dancing together, but the dancing was far too sexual to be considered something platonic. There was a lot of grabbing and a frequent use of hands.. it wasn't exactly the type of dancing that friends did with each other.

"It felt like more than 'just a dance', Riley," Hunter laughed.

She rolled her eyes, although she didn't mean to. She didn't like rolling her eyes at people; it just came so naturally when he talked.

"Well, it was just a dance to me. And besides, I told you that nothing more was going to happen between us at the party, and then I left," Riley reminded him.

"I know, but I thought it just meant you needed some time to process it. It was a little too much for one night, I figured you were overwhelmed by it all. I didn't think it meant you actually weren't interested in me," Hunter said, but realized how conceited that sounded. "I mean, not that you _have_ to be into me. With how you acted at the party, I assumed you were, but I get it if you're not. God damn it! Why am I like this? I'm never like this. Something is wrong with me right now, I swear. I'm never so off my game like this."

"Nervous?" Riley teased.

"Don't tell anyone I ever confessed it, but maybe a little..." Hunter muttered.

"You _know_ I literally just got out of a very long-term relationship. I was sort of looking for a little company because I was thrown off when I saw Lucas at the party," Riley explained honestly. "I'm sorry, Hunter. I didn't mean to be that horrible girl that leads guys on."

Hunter's perky expression fell. He nodded his head.

"Yeah, I get it. It was stupid of me to think it was a good idea to go after you _now_ of all times. I get it," he nodded his head again, but failed to hide the disappointment on his face. "Thanks for being honest with me, though. I actually do appreciate it."

"You're welcome," Riley smiled. He smiled back, and turned around. But she tilted her head to the side and had an unusual feeling surface. "Hunter, wait!"

He furrowed his eyebrows and turned back around to look at her.

"Yeah?" he asked, re-approaching her dorm room.

"You're a really great guy," she told him. "You're probably one of the very few guys who didn't take advantage of the situation that was presented to you at the party. Vulnerable girl who just got out of a relationship and was throwing herself at you? You've got self-control."

"Believe me, it was extremely difficult to not chase after you, but I do have the self-control for that," Hunter grinned.

She stared at him for a moment too long. Her eyes kept lingering, although she didn't want to. She wasn't sure if it was how upset she was over her break up with Lucas, or if she genuinely felt something for Hunter Stephen, but something did feel different about him. Normally, she didn't even pay attention to him, but she was just noticing how sweet he was.. how funny he was.. how gorgeous his eyes were.. what a nice jawline he had.

She felt like she was going to regret it later, but she stepped closer to him, went onto her tip-toes, and leaned in. As soon as their lips met, she looped her arms around his neck. He let his hands skillfully slide down to her waist. God damn, he was not expecting this turn of events. She made it seem like she wasn't going to go for him.

"Are.. you.. sure?" he asked between kisses. During a much longer pause, as they were fumbling back towards Riley's bed, he reminded, "You're the one who just said you don't want to do this because of Lucas."

She raised her eyebrows.

"Are you trying to talk me out of this?" Riley asked.

"No, but.. I, uh, I don't want to do this if you actually don't," Hunter told her.

Instead of responding, she kissed him again. They fell back on her bed, lips colliding as they scooted back towards her pillow. But suddenly, she felt the knot in her stomach grow. She freaking loved Lucas Friar. She couldn't possibly be making out with another guy, about to have _sex_ with another guy. She'd never even done anything like this before! She made a promise to her parents that she'd be like them and wouldn't sleep with anyone until after marriage, and it frustrated Lucas at times, but he respected it enough to not complain about it.

But she did wonder if any part of the reason he broke up with her was because she wouldn't do anything with him. Lucas wasn't that low, was he? He wouldn't break up with her just because of something like that? Honestly, she wasn't sure. Guys could be stupid sometimes, even the good ones like Lucas.

She sure as hell knew that it wasn't a good idea to sleep with somebody when she was still in love with Lucas, though. She stopped kissing Hunter back, although he didn't realize. Her hands tried to push him away gently, but he also didn't realize. He continued kissing down her neck, and pushed her back against the pillow.

"Hunter, please," she begged. "I can't."

He chuckled and kept kissing her. She didn't understand. Just a minute ago, he was asking her if she was sure! Now, he was laughing when she asked him to stop? Just because she said yes when they started, it meant she couldn't take it back now?

"Come on, we can't do this!" she cried.

"It bugged me at first that you told me you still love Lucas before you kissed me, but I'm okay with it, Riley," he said, cupping her cheeks. "This can be like a rebound for you. All I know is that I'm crazy attracted to you."

He started kissing her neck again. She wanted to tell him to stop, but she didn't know how. She had never been in an awkward situation like this before. She couldn't even control it when tears began spilling out of her eyes, but Hunter was so busy kissing her neck that he didn't notice.

"Hunter, get off of me, please!" Riley screamed louder than before, bursting out into tears. She pushed him off of her so he fell off the bed. "I can't do this!"

His face went into shock as he picked himself up off of the ground. He brushed himself off and blinked in shock.

"Riley, are you _crying_?" Hunter asked, pressing his lips together for a moment. "I didn't know.. I thought you were joking when you asked me to stop because you said yes _right_ before. I didn't know!"

Just then, Lucas bursted into the room.

"Hey!" Lucas yelled, his nostrils flaring. "Stephen, what the hell did you do to her?"

"Nothing!" Hunter cried. "It was a misunderstanding, okay? I didn't know.."

"Did you try to hook up with her when she said no to you?" Lucas demanded, approaching him slowly. Anger was growing in him as he came closer to Hunter. "You are such an asshole. When a girl says no to you, you don't keep going. How old are you? Do you think no means yes?"

Hunter swallowed hard.

"Honestly, it was a misunderstanding," Hunter explained. "She said yes to me, and I didn't realize she was serious when she told me to stop. Calm down, Friar. If this is you being the jealous ex-boyfriend, I'm sorry. But you broke up with her."

"This has nothing to do with me and Riley!" Lucas rolled his eyes. "This is about what _you_ did to her."

"Riley, it was a misunderstanding," Hunter gritted his teeth. He looked over at her. She was sobbing. "Riley, are you serious? You're going to pretend like I was trying to rape you or something?" He groaned in frustration. "God, this is such bullshit! I honestly didn't know!"

"You thought she was 'messing around' when she said she doesn't want to do anything?" Lucas rolled his eyes. "Get out of here before I kick your ass, man."

"No way. Not until Riley clears this up. Tell him that I wasn't doing anything wrong on purpose!" Hunter cried.

She shook her head.

"I don't want to talk about it. Hunter, please, just go," she begged.

He flared his nostrils, giving one last angry look toward Riley and Lucas before storming out of the dorm room. Riley didn't know why she was doing this. Yes, she was mortified and horrified by what happened. She felt so powerless in that situation, although she really did believe Hunter when he said he didn't know. But part of her also believed that this mess was pulling Lucas back to her again. He came in her to defend her. He wanted to talk to her again.

"How did you know to come here?" Riley asked.

"I was on my way to.. uh, talk to you," Lucas lied, scratching his head. "Then I heard you screaming. I freaked out. You scared me so much, Riles."

This was the first time they were speaking since their break up, and it felt good to have him back in her life.

"I've missed you so much," Riley said, pulling him in for a hug. "Thank you for coming in here. You're like.. a superhero."

He chuckled awkwardly and scratched his head.

"No, I was just trying to do the right thing," Lucas shook his head. "I can't believe Hunter would do that to you. That was _so_ dumb of him."

"I'm sure he didn't mean any harm," Riley tried to change the subject.

"No way!" Lucas cried, shaking his head. "That is such a douche move to try and sleep with you when you said no. I mean, who does that? Sick people! Sick people do that." He shook his head in disgust again. "I'm shocked. He was my friend, Riles. I can't believe he'd do that to you." Lucas sighed and sat down next to her on the bed. He put a hand on her back and stroked it gently.

"God, Lucas..." Riley muttered, looking over at him. She felt so much desire to grab him and kiss him. It was taking all of her self-control to remind herself that they were broken up. She just felt good things between them again. He came to save her. He was always her knight in shining armor, and she loved that about him. It was like that fairytale-ending couple from all the movies and books. She loved that feeling. "I've missed you so much. You know that?"

"I've missed you, too, Riles," he said with a smile. "It's been killing me to not be able to talk to you. This shouldn't be so hard, and I'm sorry that it is. I don't want things to be weird between us."

"Neither do I, believe me. I just want things to go back to the way they were," Riley told him.

He wasn't sure if she meant go back to them being friends again, or go back to them being a couple. And Riley wasn't too sure of what she was going to tell him if he asked, but she was sure of what she meant: when they were a couple. It was just her sly way of making him interpret it. If he said couple, she would know he was still thinking about it. It could lead right back into a conversation about getting back together.

Unfortunately, cutting them off was Maya. She seemed very startled to see Lucas sitting on her bed.

"Friar? What are you doing here?" Maya asked.

Immediately, he stood up from the bed. He knew what she was thinking, and probably what it really looked like. Honestly, he knew he didn't have any reason to care if Maya thought there was something happening with him and Riley, especially after what she did with Farkle at the party. But still, he almost felt guilty for just being on Riley's bed. As if he was betraying Maya, even though she claimed she wanted nothing to do with him romantically.

"Something happened with Hunter. I came to see Riley," Lucas said, scratching his head. "Well, I should get going."

"Why?" Riley asked. "You just got here! I told you I miss you being around, Lucas.. stay, please?"

He stared at the floor. He wanted to spend time with Riley and be her friend again, but he wasn't sure how their group dynamic was going to be now. He could barely look at Farkle ever since the day of the party, and the poor Minkus boy was clueless. He understood, though. Farkle didn't know how much Lucas would be bothered if he saw them making out at the party. Farkle didn't know that Lucas was a jackass and slept with Maya. He didn't know any of the stupid things that were far worse. All Farkle thought was that he was getting a sweet, sweet reward from Maya.

"Alright," he agreed, seating himself back on Riley's bed.

Riley smiled excitedly. She turned over to Maya.

"How are you back from class so early?" Riley asked.

Maya grinned.

"My professor's wife went into labor. There was an emergency, and he had to go. I got to leave class early," Maya explained excitedly.

"Lucky you!" Riley exclaimed. "Well, I'm glad you got to come back." She put her arm around her best friend. "It's been a while since we've all hung out as a group. I wish Farkle were here." She looked over at Lucas with a bright expression on her face. "You should call Farkle!"

Lucas swallowed hard, and Maya felt uneasy as well. It was still a sore subject for them.. well, since they hadn't talked about it at _all_. Actually, this was the first time they had seen each other since the party when it happened.

"No, he's um, he's busy," Lucas lied. He honestly had no clue what Farkle was doing, but he did know that he didn't want him to come right now." Lucas took a moment to think about the situation, and then he announced, "Actually, I don't think I'm going to stay anymore. I have a paper to write, and I don't think hanging out with friends is going to be good for my grades when I have a very unfinished paper. I'll call you guys if I finish, which probably won't be for a while. I need to focus."

Riley furrowed her eyebrows.

"You have to go _now_?" Riley asked. "You could go to a party, but can't stay now?"

"Going to that party was a huge mistake," Lucas said. And he wasn't lying about that. He wished he hadn't gone.

"Alright, fine. I hope you won't fall off the face of the earth now. You better call right when you finish that paper of yours!" Riley warned him.

"Of course," he nodded his head. "Bye, guys."

Once he left, Riley excitedly turned to Maya.

"Oh my god, things are getting so much better between us!" Riley exclaimed. "I was being stupid and I kissed Hunter. But then I regretted it, and I didn't know how to get him to stop going further, so I kinda.. screamed. And then Lucas was coming up here to talk to me, and he heard the whole thing. He came in here and went crazy for me. He's so protective. It's so cute!"

Maya pressed her lips together.

"Oh, wow. I didn't think I'd miss so much in less than a class period. Damn," she said.

"I know, right," Riley laughed.

"What did Lucas want to talk to you about?" Maya asked.

Riley suddenly realized she never found out.

"Wow..." Riley muttered, feeling stupid. "I never thought to ask what it was about. Maybe I should go after him."

"Riles, calm down. You can ask him later. Clearly, he's just so busy with his paper," Maya scoffed.

She was pretty certain there was no important paper he just _needed_ to be writing at the moment. It was his pathetic excuse to get out of having to deal with this awkward situation between the three of them.

* * *

"What do you want, Maya? I don't even want to see you right now. In fact, you're like the _last_ person I want to see right now," Lucas spat, folding his arms when he saw the tiny blonde in his doorway.

"We need to talk," she said.

"Oh, really? We do? I didn't think it was important, since this is nothing to you," he rolled his eyes. "God, I feel like you're about to break up with me even though we were never even together. 'We need to talk'."

Maya sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Huckeberry. Stop being so annoying," she said. "This is important."

"And it isn't important how you made out with Farkle?" Lucas asked. "Good job. I get how little anything meant to you."

"Stop it!" Maya yelled. "Be mad at me, go ahead. I don't care. This is about Riley."

He stopped talking, but still seemed quite angry.

"Why did you go and see Riley yesterday about?" Maya asked.

"What do you mean? Hunter Stephen was being an ass. I was being a good friend. Am I not supposed to help her if some guy is practically assaulting her?" Lucas said, rolling his eyes. "She's still my friend, Maya. I don't owe you an explanation, anyway."

"This isn't out of some nonexistent jealousy!" Maya cried. "This is about how Riley thinks you want to get back together. You've given her false hope. She's dying to find out why you wanted to talk to her. Apparently, you said you were going up to our dorm to talk to her, and just happened to hear the Hunter thing."

Lucas swallowed hard. Oh God. He didn't think he was going to have to explain this any time soon.

"Yeah, so? Maybe I wanna get back together with her," Lucas shrugged. "Why? Does that bother you?"

"No," Maya lied. "I don't care what you do. I just don't want you hurting her."

"Oh, like you did when you decided it was a good idea to sleep with me?" Lucas spat.

" _I_ decided? Excuse me if I forgot what I learned in Sex Ed from high school and middle school, but if I recall correctly, _one_ person doesn't do all the work," Maya rolled her eyes.

Lucas stared at the floor.

"Why did you kiss Farkle at the party, Maya?" Lucas asked. "Huh? It's bothering me. I can admit that I want to know, unlike you. You may be stubborn, but I'm bold enough to just say it out loud."

"I kissed him because I can. I do spontaneous things like that, just like how it was a spontaneous and meaningless decision to sleep with you. I needed a little satisfaction, you happened to be there, and—"

"Oh, for God's sake, quit lying to yourself!" Lucas yelled. "Just stop!"

"Stop? I'm telling the truth. I mean, what, did it mean something to you?" Maya teased bitterly, folding her arms. "Tell me why it's bothering you so much that I kissed Farkle. I didn't just kiss him, though. I let my tongue go into his mouth. I let his hands go through my hair."

She had never seen Lucas so angry. He was boiling. Like, _raging_. She had never been able to get under his skin the way he did to her, but now she was. She was under Lucas Friar's skin.

"Shut up," he snapped.

"What did you say to me, Huckleberry?" Maya laughed.

"Shut the hell up!" Lucas yelled. "You're driving me crazy, Maya!"

"Why, cowboy?" she scoffed. "Why am I driving you crazy? Why does it bother you that I did all that with Farkle?"

He stood there for a moment, still raging.

"Because, Maya," he mumbled.

"Because what?" she asked.

" _Because_ I have feelings for you!" Lucas yelled. "Like it wasn't obvious! Like it wasn't clear that I wasn't going to your dorm room to talk to Riley. Like you didn't know I was going to try and talk to you. Like you didn't know it killed me to see you with Farkle. Like you didn't know." He sighed, shaking his head. "You know, I like messing around with you and being all bicker-y and playful. But this is too much for me. I can't do this anymore."

Maya stared at the floor. She made him snap, and she actually felt bad about it.

"Lucas..." she muttered.

"No, Maya, I don't want to do this anymore. It was an intriguing thing we had going on, but it's over. And don't you dare tell me it was nonexistent so it can't be over, or another crap line. I'm actually done."

She felt her heart sink. He was done with her? The seriousness in his voice really scared her. She had obviously gotten into fights with him from time to time after the long course of history in their friendship. They met back in middle school— their whole group became close back in middle school. But she had never seen him look at her with _this_ kind of look on his face. He looked a thousand times done with her, as if he never wanted to see her again in his life.

The only thing she could think of that could fix it was to maybe stop denying that there was something between them, but it might have been a little too late for that. He probably wanted to hear her say she had feelings for him or something, but honestly, she was still trying to figure out how she felt and how to handle the situation, so doing that was _not_ an option. But, being the impulsive girl she was, she made the quick decision to express those feelings by leaning in instead. And it was a mortifying moment when he didn't kiss back, and just stood there idly.

"I said I'm done," he told her.

"Are you serious right now?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Does it look like I'm joking around?" he rolled his eyes.

She had to swallow her pride for a moment. Taking a deep breath, she turned around and walked away. No witty remarks. Nothing more to piss him off. She'd already done a pretty great job of pissing him off. Anymore, and he could become dangerous.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for not updating sooner. I actually do have free time now, since it's winter break for me. Thank you so much for all the reviews, follows, favorites, and reads! :)**

CHAPTER 4

A few weeks passed since Lucas declared that he was done with her. Things had been very different between the group. They never thought it would happen, but their friendship actually did start to drift. Of course, Maya and Riley's friendship hadn't died, but it had been different because Maya felt terrible about what she did every time she was around Riley. Sitting on such a huge secret wasn't fun for her. The four of them seemed to be finding other people to spend time with.

But the holidays were right around the corner, and that also meant Riley's birthday was coming up. It was her 20th birthday, too, so there was definitely going to be _some_ type of gathering or party to celebrate the occasion. The only part Maya was a little bit iffy about was that she would have to be in the same room as everyone else again for the first time. Although Riley and Lucas weren't exactly on the best of terms, there was no chance in hell that she wouldn't invite him to whatever party she had. Everyone in their group _always_ celebrated their birthday together.

"Hey, I've barely been able to catch you alone.. like, only when we're about to go to sleep!" Riley cried as she entered the dorm room. "You're not going to be heading out right now, are you?"

"Um, I actually made plans with somebody," Maya lied, scratching her head.

" _Maya_ , come on. I know what this is," Riley smirked proudly, as if she'd figured it out. "I know what's going on here."

"What?" Maya said in shock, feeling her heart rate grow. "Riles... you know?"

"I do," Riley nodded her head, and sat down next to her on her bed. "But, we can pretend like I don't know about it. It's better if I don't know, anyway."

"No, no.. I'm glad you know. I think we should talk about this, and not try to throw everything away—" Maya began.

"Talk about it?" Riley asked, raising her eyebrows. "Why would you _want_ me to know the details of the surprise party?"

A feeling of relief surged through Maya. She took a deep breath. _Surprise birthday party_. Riley thought she was talking about a surprise party! And now that she mentioned it, Maya knew she'd probably have to figure some grand birthday plan out to make it seem like she knew exactly what Riley was talking about. As if this surprise party was real...

"You're right, that was stupid of me. Show up, and make it look like you were surprised all along," Maya smiled. "It sucks that you've figured it out. It completely takes the element of surprise out of the surprise party!"

"Don't worry, I can put on a good show," she said proudly. "As you know, I did a couple school plays back in high school and middle school. Fake a little surprised reaction? I can do that. No problem there."

* * *

"Farkle, Lucas, open up!" Maya cried out, knocking on their dorm room's door frantically.

She had no clue how she was going to plan a surprise party for Riley now. She was never good at planning things! She felt a little stupid for coming to Lucas after what happened between them, but she wanted to make herself believe that things were exactly the way they were before. Back when there was nothing wrong with them all planning a party for their dear friend Riley together, all as friends. It was expected that Lucas was going to be bitter towards her when she asked, but she knew he would do it for Riley.

A loud and annoyed groan came from Lucas as he opened the door. Maya couldn't help but lick her lips when she realized he wasn't wearing a shirt, and was clad in his sweatpants. She was afraid it may have been obvious that she was checking him out, but how could she stop herself? He was just standing there without a shirt. All that rodeo action from Texas must have paid off, because he had a fantastic body. And yes, she had already seen it before... _twice_ , but she still found herself unable to look away each and every time.

"What do you want, Maya?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Um, I kinda slipped up and promised Riley a party.. it's supposed to be a surprise party, too. She thinks she's in on it, but I never had a party to begin with. I thought you, me, and Farkle could—"

"Could what?" he scoffed. "All work together and plan a big party? It's your problem. I'm sure Farkle could help you, since you've got him wrapped around your finger. But me? I've got things to do."

She pressed her lips together. Was he actually rejecting to help her? He was _always_ the guy to help when things got difficult. That was just the kind of guy Lucas Friar had always been! She couldn't believe she had pissed him off to this point.

"Okay," she mumbled, scratching her head. "Okay, uh, where's Farkle?"

"I don't know. I told him to get lost for the afternoon since I've got company over," he said. And she swore she saw the slightest smirk form on his face. He knew what he was rubbing in. She figured he had a girl over.

"Company, huh?" she nodded.

"Yeah," he smirked.

Before she had the chance to turn away and avoid seeing what bitch he was spending all his time with, that very girl came to the doorway and wrapped her arms around Lucas's bare chest. She pecked his cheek, as if they were just _so_ comfortable with each other. Maya raised her eyebrows at the sight. So, he was screwing around with another girl? He had every right, she knew that— it had even been weeks since he had ended things with Maya. Despite all this, she still found herself angered by the fact that he was sleeping with this other girl.

"Wow, nice," Maya quietly said. "Who's the girlfriend, Lucas? You never introduced me."

"Never had the chance," he chuckled bitterly. "But you're here now, so, this is Bethany."

"Bethany Ellis," the girl moved forward and introduced herself. "And you are?"

"Maya... Hart. Lucas's friend," she mumbled quietly. "It's really nice to meet you."

"Oh! You, too," Bethany smiled.

Maya felt enraged just looking at this girl. She was clearly beautiful— a real catch. She didn't want Lucas to be with a gorgeous girl that seemed sweet. Bethany had tanned skin, gorgeous hazel eyes, silky brown hair that went down to her waist, and a radiantly white smile. Maya wanted to be the girl that had the mindset of 'I just want him to be happy', but she couldn't bring herself to think that way. She truly, honestly wished Lucas had an ugly, horrible downgrade of a girlfriend. But instead, he had this _beautiful_ girl. And of course, Maya didn't even know the girl, but she already felt threatened. Not that she had Lucas anymore...

She dragged her feet as she walked away from Lucas and Farkle's dorm room. It bugged her to hear Bethany turn back to him and flirtatiously speak. Through her peripheral vision, she could see Bethany throw her arms around Lucas's neck and kiss him. _Ugh_.

"Girlfriend, huh? We never discussed the whole girlfriend thing..." she heard Bethany quietly say and giggle after saying it.

"Sure, we can have a discussion _after_ we finish what we started," Lucas laughed.

Maya heard the door close. They went inside to do God-knows-what. Well, she had a pretty good idea of what they were going to do, and it sucked. Bad.

* * *

Maya sat in her dorm room, twirling her hair in frustration as she tried to figure out what she could do to quickly plan a great surprise party for Riley. She hadn't even began studying for a single one of her finals, she destroyed her friendship with Lucas (and maybe even Farkle, too— she didn't know because she never saw him anymore), and now she had to plan this stressful surprise party to cover her ass. Not that she didn't love Riley, and not that she didn't want her best friend to have an amazing 20th birthday... She just didn't have the time or patience for this right now.

Luckily for her, help showed up at her door with a simple knock.

She got up from her bed and went to open the door. She was completely startled when she saw Lucas standing there, biting his lips, with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey," he greeted, scratching his head awkwardly. "I'm sorry about what I did earlier today. Riley is really important to me, and I shouldn't have turned you down. I'll help you with planning the party, if you'll still have me."

A smile emerged on Maya's face as her eyes locked with Lucas's sharp blue orbs.

"Of course," she nodded her head. "I've gotten, like, nowhere in the past few hours of planning. I ordered a cake!"

"Well, at least you've done _something_ so far, so we're not starting from nothing," Lucas shrugged his shoulders. He grinned and sat down on her bed. He sighed and continued, "Look, before we start this, I want to give you a much better apology for this afternoon. It was totally a dick move. I was trying to be mean to you because I wanted to be mad at you and stuff..."

"It's okay," she said, staring at the floor. "I kinda deserve it, you know, for how I acted a few weeks ago. You have every right to spend time with your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," Lucas told her. "I mean, she wants to be, but she's not."

"You're a heartbreaker now, huh, Friar?" Maya joked.

Lucas chuckled and explained, "No, no.. in all honesty, I was trying to get over you. We did some not-so-PG stuff, but I couldn't stop thinking about you. I wanted to be done with you so bad."

Maya felt a knot grow in her stomach. She had all the feelings she didn't want to have for him at that moment! How could he possibly be thinking of her while sleeping with another girl? God, he was so terrible. How could he just tell her something like that?

"Oh," she mumbled.

"Oh?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Oh," she confirmed.

"Alright..." he scratched his head. "Well, thanks for letting me clear the air about that. And again, I'm sorry for trying to rub her in your face."

"I was worried about Riley," Maya lied. "I knew she'd be upset to see you with a new girlfriend at her party. It would really kill her to see you with another girl."

Lucas furrowed his eyebrows.

"She and I aren't dating," he reminded.

"I know, but that's why I was even the slightest bit concerned that you were with that girl," she lied again.

"I figured she'd be upset to see me with her," he shrugged his shoulders. He looked over at Maya, who was sitting next to him and looking straight into his eyes. "But, what about you? You didn't care?"

"No," she quietly answered, but it sounded so false.

What she was saying did not match with what her eyes were saying to him, because he was getting every response that meant 'yes' from the way she was looking at him. He knew he'd probably regret it later, but he couldn't help himself, so he slowly lifted his hands up to cup Maya's cheeks, and then leaned forward. She didn't even try and stop him. She couldn't believe after fighting with Lucas about this just a few weeks ago, they were falling right back into this pattern.

Their lips touched for a split second before Maya pulled back and picked up a piece of paper from the other side of her bed.

"So, let's get planning!" she exclaimed to change the subject. "This is where I'm writing down all the plans for Riley's party. So far, I've got the cake."

Lucas pressed his lips together.

"Okay," he nodded. "I'll call Farkle. We can all work on this together."

"Great!" Maya exclaimed, getting up from the bed so she could be as far away from Lucas as possible.

* * *

 **Sorry that this chapter was kind of short. I just thought this was a good place to end it. I'll try and make the next one longer. I hope you guys still like it! Leave a review and give me any thoughts you've got!**


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